U.S. unveils preliminary roster for upcoming NORCECA U21 Championship

The United States determined its preliminary roster for the team that will attempt to qualify for the 2019 FIVB U21 World Championship.

USA Volleyball announced Monday the 17 college players and incoming recruits to make the U.S. Men’s Junior National Training Team.

This roster will be cut to 12 players following a 10-day training camp that begins on Wednesday in Chicago. In addition, the team later this month will compete at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Cuba.

Stanford led all schools with four players making the U.S. training roster, including opposite Jalen Jasper and middle attacker Kyler Presho.

Both players earned MPSF All-Freshman Team honors last season. Jasper, an Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Freshman All-American, also was seventh in the nation with a 3.92 kills per game average.

Pepperdine, Loyola and UCLA joined Stanford with multiple players or recruits named to the U.S. team. The defending NCAA champions Long Beach State, BYU, Lewis, Princeton, UC San Diego and USC each have one player on the training roster.

This roster features four players who helped the United States reach the Round of 16 at the 2018 FIVB U19 World Championship.

Along with Jasper and Presho, USC MPSF All-Freshman middle attacker Sam Lewis and Loyola outside attacker Devin Joslyn competed in the international tournament last year.

The NORCECA U21 Continental Championship will be a seven-day event starting Aug. 27. The two-top teams from this tournament will qualify for the U21 World Championship.